The latest deals at Singapore government-backed Chartered, the world's fourth-largest maker of built-to-order chips, may speed its recovery, analysts said, and its stock rose nearly six percent to a seven-month high on Wednesday.

The announcement with Infineon, Europe's second-largest chip maker, comes a day after a contract to build radio frequency identification (RFID) chips for Japan's Toppan Printing Co Ltd.

The value of the contracts was not disclosed, and industry analysts declined to give an estimate pending more information from the company, which is 60-percent owned by Singapore's government.

"The two contracts show that Chartered is making good progress in boosting its utilization levels and getting new business, which would strengthen its cash flow and possibly bring forward its return to profitability," said Warren Lau, an analyst with HSBC Securities in Taipei.

Utilization levels refer to the rates at which the production plants run.

Chartered has suffered nine straight quarters of losses, and analysts expect a US$563.5 million loss in calendar 2003 followed by a loss of $372.1 million in 2004.

By: Docmemory
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